In the spectacle industry, at present the blanks or semifinished products through to the finished spectacles with frames are transported or kept in different transport containers during the various stages of adding value.
So there are special containers in which the semifinished products or blanks, for example made of silicate glass or plastic, are exclusively transported during what is known as base lens production, that is to say until the spectacle lenses have been given the appropriate prescribed optical properties. The containers have receptacles for a pair of spectacle blanks intended for a pair of spectacles. Receptacles are arranged with a dimension between axes of 130 mm. This means that the geometrical centers of the spectacle lenses or spectacle lens blanks of a pair of spectacle lenses or spectacle lens blanks that are received by the receptacles are at a distance of 130 mm. This dimension between axes results from the fact that the distances between grippers and spindles on the base lens machining tool (milling, centering, turning, polishing process) has been standardized by the major manufacturers to a uniform dimension of 130 mm. The containers for the base lens production are often used not only for receiving the semifinished or unfinished products but also for receiving polishing tools and the prescription. One such container was developed at the beginning of the 90s by Carl Zeiss in collaboration with a partner.
At the request of the customer, spectacles are also tinted. In particular, a photochromic coating can also be applied. Because the containers used for transporting the base lenses are generally contaminated as a result of the foregoing machining of the spectacle lens blanks, it is customary to provide a further container for the unfinished lenses cleaned after the base lens machining and to pass the pairs of lenses on to the tinting process while arranged in this container.
The possibly tinted base lenses are then generally subjected to further finishing steps. For example, a hard coating may be carried out to make the lenses more scratch-resistant. For this process, the base lenses are inserted into holders, where they are only supported at the rim, without there being any contact with one of the optically active surfaces. According to the company's internal state of the art, these holders receiving the lenses are transported in special plastic containers. After the hard coating, usually an antireflection coating and possibly also an antiadhesion coating are applied, to prevent the adherence of dirt particles. After that, the finished products are passed on to quality control. For transporting the lenses together with the prescription, once again containers that have been specifically developed, for example by the applicant, are provided. The receptacles both for the inserts and for the spectacle lenses are arranged with a dimension between axes of 112.5 mm. This different dimension between axes is required because the standard dimension between axes in control and packaging installations does not correspond to the base lens machining tools, but is 112.5 mm.
In truing workshops, again different containers are used to transport the finished products, the spectacle frame, any formers and the associated prescription. The containers used by many optometrists as well as by the applicant itself have dish-shaped compartments instead of generally customary steps as a depository for the lenses. These dish-shaped receptacles for a pair of finished spectacle lenses intended for a pair of spectacles are a component part of the assigned inserts, which in turn have themselves been inserted into corresponding receptacles in the container. The receptacles both for the inserts and for the spectacle lenses are arranged with a dimension between axes of 130 mm. This standardized dimension between axes is based on the standard for grippers and spindle arrangements of the major manufacturers of such installations.
Although the aforementioned transport containers have proven to be satisfactory in principle, there is the need for a uniform container concept and a correspondingly adapted process sequence.